Search form

Chicago Plans Largest School Closing in Nation's History

Seeking to trim budgets and 'distribute scarce resources more efficiently,' Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial plan to shrink Chicago's school system moved ahead yesterday with the Board of Ed's vote to shut 49 of the city's elementary schools.

"Months of argument and anguish over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push for sweeping school closings came to a climax Wednesday as his hand-picked Board of Education voted to shut 49 elementary schools and transfer thousands of children to new classroom settings," report Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, John Chase and Bob Secter.

"Critics were unconvinced, and many forcefully expressed objections during and after Wednesday's board meeting. Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, one of several City Council members who spoke on behalf of schools in their wards, argued that schools serve as the glue of many neighborhoods."

"Closing a school is akin to closing a community," Pawar said.

"The decision to shut so many schools in Chicago, while unprecedented in number for a major urban center, did not occur in a vacuum. School systems in many large U.S. cities, facing similar challenges, have also been closing schools," note the reporters.